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Author Notes:Beer bread is probably my favorite go-to quick bread. It's rustic, dense, and so versatile, depending on the beer you use and the mix-ins you add. It's a great accompaniment to most meals, or just plain delicious warm out of the oven with a pat of butter. You can try it with a dark hoppy beer and add cheddar and dill, or a strawberry blonde beer with homemade preserves. This recipe is a pumpkin version -- seasonal and warm, though not overly sweet. I almost always bake a loaf or two to serve with our holiday dinner. —CookingMonster

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Makes 1 loaf

3
cups all purpose flour (you can definitely use whole wheat, but it will make a denser bread)

3
teaspoons baking powder

3
tablespoons light brown sugar

1
teaspoon cinnamon

1/4
teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2
teaspoon ginger

1/4
teaspoon salt

1
cup pumpkin

12
ounces pumpkin beer (room temperature)

1/4
cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9"-5" loaf pan.

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl (this will keep the bread nice and light).

Add the pumpkin and the beer to the dry ingredients -- add the beer in all at once -- the whole mixture will foam up like a volcano!

Mix the pumpkin and beer with the dry ingredients until combined. Don't overmix or you'll wind up with a tough bread.

It'll be a thick batter, so just spoon it into the loaf pan. Let it take on the rustic, homemade shape it wants to. Then pour the melted butter all over the top.

Bake for about an hour, until the loaf has set and the top is brown and crusty. Yum. Resist the urge to cut into it immediately. Give it about 5 minutes to rest, then turn it out of the pan and cut thick slices with a serrated knife.

It's a rustic looking bread, but oh so delicious. Best served warm -- with a pat of butter, or with some soft ricotta and pumpkin butter!

I agree with Katie. I too followed the recipe exactly (3tsp. /1 tbls ) baking powder) and used the correct size pan. After an hour it was starting to crisp,on top but when I inserted a tooth pick it was very doughy. After another hour in the oven the top was crisp an appeared to be done, but when cut it was doughy and sticky inside and not edible. Maybe the pumpkin should be a half cup.

Hi Katie, I'm not sure what went wrong with your batch. Was your baking powder fresh? Was your oven at the right temperature? Do you live somewhere where the elevation is different? I'm so sorry it didn't turn out right texturally for you. :( I hope the next time you try a beer bread recipe it comes out perfectly crusty on top and dense and bready inside.

I was really excited by this recipe but so disappointed in the outcome! I followed the above instructions to the T (meaning 3 TEAspoons of baking powder, too). I also used a spiced Christmas ale instead of the Pumpkin beer since it's out of season. After an hour the knife still came out really gooey, and the top wasn't quite crusty. I ended up leaving it in for at least another 30 minutes, and by then the top was hard but tough and chewy, and the insides was still doughy. Do you use a convection oven at 350? Or baking soda instead of powder? Or some other tweak I missed?

You're totally right, Vivian! I accidentally marked tbsp when I meant tsp. Thanks for catching my error! I'm not a sweet bread kind of person, so I like the sugar content where it is, particularly in light of the added pumpkin, which adds its own sweetness. But if you prefer a sweeter bread, by all means, up the sugar!

Question: three tablespoons of baking powder seems extreme. I actually tried this bread this weekend -- followed the recipe with the exception of pumpkin beer - used the Great Lakes Christmas brew instead. The bread had a nice texture indeed, but a bitter after taste - which seemed to be the result of the baking powder, rather than the hops in the beer. I would add more sugar to the recipe, as well. Dunno, for me this recipe needed a little tweaking.